Discussion

A couple lunches and dinner in Covent Garden/Soho and Tower areas of London?

My husband and I (mid-20's, foodies, love wine and beer on tap) are spending 2.5 days in London this coming March, and I'm looking to find a couple restaurants near our itinerary (which is loose at this point, but should be something like this):

Sunday- explore Westminster area, Hyde Park, Covent Garden, Soho, including a couple hrs+ for the national gallery.For this day I'm looking for a lunch and dinner place. For lunch, perhaps a gastropub or Italian place in the Covent Garden/Soho area. I imagine we'll be wondering around quite a bit so we can plan to go somewhere outside of this area for a great meal. In general I'd love some gastro & other pub recommendations.

For dinner, we'd love to try a great Indian place, also in this area.

Monday- Hampton Court in the morning and then lunch somewhere near the Tower of London...something with a view of the Thames might be nice.

Price range for lunch, would like to stay around 20-30£/person if at all possible, perhaps more if we include a drink.

For dinner on Saturday, would like to stay under 100-150£ total- generally I was thinking this could be a splurge meal.

For lunch on Monday I would suggest the Blueprint Cafe, on the south side of the Thames a few hundred yards from Tower Bridge. Great food, the chef is Jeremy Lee who is a real class act and has been there for years. Fabulous views over the river as the dining room is on the first floor and glass-fronted. Should fit in with your price range as well.

Or also in Covent Garden and round the corner from the National Gallery, Terroirs (wine bar with good food) or Les Deux Salons (new French-style brasserie). The National Dining Room at the gallery also does pretty good British food.

i adore barrafina (soho) for a fun atmosphere, really good tapas and excellent wines, all sold by the glass. to avoid queuing you need to arrive as they open or c60 mins later (when you can join the queue with a glass of wine) as you can't book and there are only 23 seats. £100-150 would really allow you to eat and drink really well.

when i was there a few weeks ago with my bf we spent around that and had loads of lovely stuff - croquetas, padron peppers, jamon, razor clams, octopus, a beautiful fish stew, a really zingy gem salad with anchovies and pancetta, santiago tart with crunchy almond ice cream, wines and sherry. it depends if you're happy to spend that in a tapas bar though, or you'd prefer a more formal setting.

on friday night you should pop into baltic (also on waterloo road, a polish restaurant with bar)for a drink - the bar is nice and buzzy and they do some interesting drinks.

Moti Mahal is a fine Indian restaurant, and so is Mela at 152-156 Shaftesbury Avenue in Soho. Their main menu is full of non-cliché choices, and their 2- and 3-course set menus for lunch and dinner are attractive and attractively priced.

None of us finds Italian food very interesting, but I was once taken to Bertorelli at 44a Floral Street in Covent Garden and enjoyed the Salsicce Toscane grigliate (Italian beans and sausages), which I hadn't had anywhere else. Definitely not a pizza joint!

We don't ordinarily do pubs, but there's one place I never miss that's perhaps nominally a pub: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. This is out of your area, perhaps - it's at 145 Fleet Street, or rather in an alleyway called Wine Office Court just off Fleet Street to the north, not far from Samuel Johnson's house and the statue to his cat Hodge. Traditional English food and drink in a building that dates back to 1667; be sure to eat in the ground floor Chop Room, to the left as you enter, with the portrait of Dr. Johnson in the corner.

I like Chowki but not to take guest to. For me it is a simple, quick curry after or before doing something else. Mela is a bit more upmarket and a good value option for its location but still not destination dining.